Tiger Global invests Rs 75cr in electric bike venture

BENGALURU: Ather Energy, a Bengaluru-based venture by two 25-year-old graduates of IIT Madras that is designing a smart electric two-wheeler, has received funding of $12 million (Rs 75.33 crore) from venture capital firm Tiger Global.
Ather had in November last year received $1 million from Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, and Raju Venkatraman of Medall Healthcare.
The new round of funding will be used for development, testing, production and the launch of Ather’s first two-wheeler – the Ather S340.
“We have reached the end of the development stage. We have started putting the vehicle on test tracks,” Tarun Mehta, CEO & founder of Ather, told TOI. Mehta, together with his IIT batchmate Swapnil Jain, founded Ather in 2013, six months after they graduated.
Ather is trying to dramatically improve the performance and capabilities of an electric scooter. Mehta said the charging time would be less than one hour, compared to 6-8 hours that most such vehicles take now. It will offer a top speed of 75 km and a single charge would allow a commute of 60 km. “We are trying to match the performance of petrol vehicles in every aspect and improve over them in some cases. Connectivity options would allow the user to control things like the top speed and acceleration of the vehicle. It will have on-board diagnostics and issue notifications for maintenance,” Mehta said. The vehicle is expected to be priced just under Rs 1 lakh, similar to that of a premium Vespa scooter.
Lee Fixel of Tiger Global said, “We are impressed with Ather’s vision of building smart electric vehicles that has a potential to revolutionize the driving experience.” Tiger Global was the biggest investor in India last year, and continues to be so this year. It was an early investor in Flipkart, Ola, and Quikr.